Clamp



April 29, 1924. ,492,201

F. CARLE ET AL.

CLAMP Filed April 1. 1922 be /0 I833 INVENTORS 7W Caniz,% BY a) A TT NE 7.

Patented Apr. 29, 1924.

UNITED STATES I FEE-BRICK CABLE AND STEPHEN PUSCHKO, OF NEWARK, JERSEY.

CLAMP.

Application .filed April 1, 1922 SeriaiNo. 548,877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDRICK CABLE and STEPHEN PUsoHKo, citizens of the United States, and residents of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved clamp, and while it is adapted for different purposes, it is primarily adapted for use in stretching hides on drying frames, and is designed to provide a clamp that does no material damage to the hide where it grips it, making most of the hide, in fact all of the hide, available after drying, and which can be attached to the frame quickly, the fastening means being secured to the clamp and adapted to be driven into the wooden frame by a blow or two from a hammer.

The invention further consists in certain details of construction to be hereinafter more fully described and finally embodied in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a corner of a drying frame, showing two of the clamps attached to a hide and holding the hide to the frame. Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the clamps. Figure 3 is a side view of the clamp, a small part of the clamp and one rail of the frame being shown in section.

The clamp consists of two members pivoted together, these members 10 and 11 being substantially T-shaped and being pivoted together as at 12. These T-shaped members provide jaws 13 and 14 which are long and comparatively narrow, so that a considerable breadth of hide is engaged by the clamp, so that the tension at this point is distributed, that is, not localized at ony one point, and the hide does not tear, 'nor is it necessary to puncture the hide, a good grip being provided by arranging on each of the opposed faces of the jaws longitudinal corrugations or ridges 15.

The jaws, in rear of the pivot 12, form a pair of handles which can be squeezed together, since they are yieldingly held apart by the spring 16, inward motion being provided preferably by bending one of the members, such as 11, so that its handle portion 17 is spaced from the handle portion 18 of the member 10, the shank of the member 10 being preferably straight and is provided on its inner end with a fastening means. This fastening means is usually in the form of a nail 19 which is secured in placeagainst longitudinal movementin the extensi0n20 of one of the members, such as the member 10, the member at this end being strengthened by being; cast thicker than the handle so that it withstands heavy blows, the nail having its projecting part 21 adapted to be driven into the wood of the frame 22. The nail is not apt to be lost or misplaced because it is fixed into the device by having the part engaging the shank of the member 10 on its inner face upset, as at 28, this upsetting being done either by squeezing the material of the nail to cause it to expand to both sides, or by making the collar integral on the nail.

To provide for easily extracting the nail, along with the clamp, from the frame, the lower sideof the back end 20 is inclined or chamfered, as at 24, so that a tack puller or any other suitable form of small lever can be inserted under this part of the clamp to pry it away from the frame.

When the device is to be used it is grasped in the hand and the handles 17 and 18 are squeezed together, and the jaws 13 and 1 1 are put over the hide, and then when the hand is released the spring 16 operates to hold the jaws tightly shut on the hide 25. The clamp, carrying with it the hide, can then be pulled back by grasping it at or in front of the pivot 12, or by holding the member 10 alone in the hand, and when it is pulled back so that the hide is as tight as desired and the back end of the clamp is over the frame, one or two blows from a hammer on the rear end 20 of the member 10 forces the nail 21 into the wood, and then the next clamp is put in position. In this way the end 20 acts as an anvil on which the blows are delivered, as well as on the nail, so that care to hit only the nail need not be taken.

The old way of fastening hides has been to tack the hides directly to the frame. This is expensive because at present the tacks are an item of expense, many are lost, and those that are saved are placed in piles and then a blowing machine is used to blow the dust and dirt out of'the tacks so that they can be used over again. The use of tacks also requires sweeping, the tacks being swept up from the floor, since many of them are dropped in the extracting of them from the frames, and also the tacks, when being extracted, cause wear on the frames because the extracting is done underneath the hide so' 'as to save the hide, and the tack puller is generally forced a considerable distance into the wood and it does not take long for the frame to'become very much mutilated and weak ened. When the hide is fastened directly to the frame it dries on the edges much N slower than with our improved device, and

furthermore, in the tacking as now done With ordinary large tacks they are held in the mouth of the tacker, and this slows up the work and, of course, is unsanitary. The nail 21 is held in the anvil 20 fora'material portion of its length usually about half its length and being held against longitudinal movement is also held against canting or tilting so that when the workman is grasping the clamp with one hand and delivering ablow or two. on the anvil part to drive the nail into the frame, the nail is held rigidly in, vertical posit-ion and thus needs but a blow or two to drive all of its exposed part into the frame.

These expensive and objectionable factors are eliminated in our device, in which the clamping of the hide is quickly accomplished, and the afiixing and pulling back and handles on the other end one of said handles having a thickened anvil part and a n'ail'embedded in said anvil for a material part of itslength whereby the nail is held against canting and against longitudinal movement in the anvil partso that blows delivered on the anvil part will drive the nail straight into a frame. v

' 2. A clamp comprising a pair of T-shaped members hinged together to form a pair of jaws at one side of the hinge and a pair of handles at the other side of the hinge, a spring between the handles to normally force them apart, one of the handles having a thick extension thereon, and a prong on said extension, the'extension thus providing an element on which blows can be delivered to force the prong into a frame, one of the edges'of the extension being inwardly inclined to receivea tool whereby the withdrawal of the prong can be facilitated.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing, we have hereto set our hands, this 31st day of March, 1922. e

' FREDRIGK CABLE.

STEPHEN PUSOHKO. 

